Additive manufacturing is a process that is utilized to create components by applying sequential material layers, with each layer being applied to the previous material layer. Surfaces of an end component created using additive manufacturing have a certain degree of roughness referred to as a surface roughness. The surface roughness occurs due to an inherent stair step surface configuration resulting from the cumulative application of sequential layers during the additive measuring process.
In some components, such as aircraft components, or other components with low tolerances, certain degrees of surface roughness are unacceptable and variations in an output roughness are likewise unacceptable. Existing additive manufacturing processes are designed with the assumption that a desired layer depth is applied at each layer. When variations in the layer depth, or other manufacturing parameters, occur due to process variations, the surface roughness is altered, even when the end component meets dimensional tolerances. As a result, additive manufacturing parameters expected to output a part with a desired set of constraints can output parts outside of those constraints.